All that can be said in regard to the platonism of the Fathers, and especially in regard to the dependence of the author of the Areopagitica on the neo-platonist philosophers, is limited to outward resemblances which do not go to the root of their teaching, and relate only to a vocabulary which was common to [...]
Archive for the ‘Vladimir Lossky’ Category
Outward resemblances
Posted in theology, Vladimir Lossky on 13, February, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Heavenly King
Posted in Pneumatology, Vladimir Lossky on 10, July, 2006 | 2 Comments »
…the apophaticism which characterizes the mystical theology of the Eastern Church appears as a witness to the fullness of the Holy Spirit—to this Person who, though He fills all things and brings all things to their ultimate fulfillment, yet remains Himself unknown.Vladimir Lossky
A body more perfect
Posted in ecclesiology, Vladimir Lossky on 18, May, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
A new reality came into the world, a body more perfect than the world—the Church, founded on a two-fold divine economy: the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, the two persons of the Trinity sent into the world. …The Church is body in so far as Christ is her head; she [...]
"Validity" of inspired texts
Posted in ecclesiology, theology, Vladimir Lossky on 5, April, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
What is important is the Church’s judgment on the contents of the work and the use which she has made of it. Does not the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews say in quoting a psalm of David: ‘But one in a certain place testified…’? thus showing to what extent the question of authorship [...]
Who is so great as our God?
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 25, March, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
It is in creatures—beings created from nothing by the divine will, limited and subject to change—that the infinite and eternal energies abide, making the greatness of God to shine forth in all things, and appearing beyond all things as the divine light which the created world cannot contain.Vladimir Lossky
Of cosmology
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 13, March, 2006 | 1 Comment »
…the cosmology of revelation is necessarily geocentric…copernican cosmology, from a psychological or rather spiritual point of view, corresponds to a state of religious dispersion or off-centredness, a relaxation of the soteriological attitude, such as is found in the gnostics or the occult religions. The spirit of the insatiable thirst for knowledge, the restless spirit of [...]
On "free will"
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 28, February, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
…hesitation in our ascent towards the good we call ‘free will’.Vladimir Lossky
Putting the mind to the Cross
Posted in theology, Vladimir Lossky on 1, February, 2006 | 2 Comments »
The dogma of the Trinity is a cross for human ways of thought. The apophatic ascent is a mounting of calvary. This is the reason why no philosophical speculation has ever succeeded in rising to the mystery of the Holy Trinity. This is the reason why the human spirit was able to receive the full [...]
O Great Mystery
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 3, January, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
The mystery of the Trinity only becomes accessible to that ignorance which rises above all that can be contained within the concepts of the philosophers.Vladimir Lossky
On Evil
Posted in Vladimir Lossky, tagged evil on 28, November, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
…evil is nothing other than an attraction of the will towards nothing, a negation of being, of creation, and above all of God, a furious hatred of grace against which the rebellious will puts up an implacable resistance.Vladimir Lossky
The nature of God
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 17, November, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
There is only one name by which the divine nature can be expressed: the wonder which seizes the soul when it thinks of God.Vladimir Lossky
The Divine Image
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 8, November, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
…it is impossible to define what constitutes the divine image in man. We can only conceive it through the idea of participation in the infinite goodness of God.Vladimir Lossky
Latins and Greeks
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 7, November, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
…freeing of men’s minds from natural limitations due to differences of mentality and culture, the catholicity of the Church was made manifest. Though the Latins might express the mystery of the Trinity by starting from one essence in order to arrive at the three persons; though the Greeks might prefer the concrete as their starting [...]
The battle of the Church
Posted in Vladimir Lossky on 2, November, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
…the Church has had to fight against ‘Origenism’ as she has always fought against doctrines which, in striking at the divine incomprehensibility, replaced the experience of the unfathomable depths of God by philosophical concepts.Vladimir Lossky
